Sergio Enrique Villarreal Barragán, a.k.a. El Grande, (b. September 21, 1969), is a Mexican former federal police officer who then worked as a lieutenant for

Arturo Beltrán Leyva Marcos Arturo Beltrán Leyva (September 27, 1961 – December 16, 2009) was a Mexican drug lord who, alongside his brothers, founded and led the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. Prior to founding his own organization, Beltran-Leyva was a longtime high-ra ...

of the criminal organization called the

Beltrán Leyva Cartel Beltrán is a Spanish male given name and surname. In non-Spanish speaking countries, the accent is usually omitted as Beltran. It derives from the Germanic words berht ("bright") and hramn ("raven"). It shares this same Germanic origin with Bertran ...

. He got his name ''El Grande'' ("The Big One") because he is tall.

Biography

Villarreal Barragán was born in Torreón, Coahuila on September 21, 1969. He began his criminal career as a car thief in the state of Coahuila, and in 1990 at age 20, he was admitted to the Coahuila Judicial Police force. Several years later in 1993, he was admitted to the

Federal Police A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEAs ...

, which was led by the office National Security Commission and was stationed at

Nuevo Laredo Nuevo Laredo () is a city in the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city lies on the banks of the Rio Grande, across from Laredo, United States. The 2010 census population of the city was 373,725. Nuevo Lare ...

. Villarreal Barragán was then stationed at

Reynosa, Tamaulipas Reynosa () is a border city in the northern part of the state of Tamaulipas, in Mexico. It is also the municipal seat of Reynosa Municipality. The city is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande in the international Reynosa–McAllen Met ...

, where he worked until 1996, when he established a business relationship with the

Juárez Cartel The Juárez Cartel (Spanish: ''Cártel de Juárez''), also known as the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Organization, is a Mexican drug cartel based in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, across the Mexico—U.S. border from El Paso, Texas. The cartel is one ...

. Between the years 2007 and 2010, Villarreal Barragán left the Juárez organization to work along with the Gulf Cartel and for

Los Zetas Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate, regarded as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent "shock and awe" tactics such as beheadings, torture, and indiscri ...

, but later incorporated into the

Sinaloa Cartel The Sinaloa Cartel ( es, link=no, Cártel de Sinaloa), also known as the CDS, the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Pacific Cartel, the Federation and the Blood Alliance, is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in il ...

, commanding a criminal cell of the

Beltrán Leyva Cartel

Allegedly, he was hired by the

and by 2007 he rose to the rank of lieutenant for

. Following Arturo's death in December 2009 during a shootout with Marines, infighting broke out for the control of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel. One faction is led by lieutenants

Édgar Valdez Villarreal Edgar Valdez Villarreal (born August 11, 1973), also known as La Barbie ("The Barbie"), is a Mexican-American former drug lord and high-ranking lieutenant of the now-disbanded Beltrán Leyva Cartel. Valdez is serving a 49-year prison sentence at ...

and

Gerardo Alvarez-Vazquez José Gerardo Álvarez-Vázquez (aka: ''El Indio'' or ''El Chayán'') is a Mexican drug trafficker who worked for the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel and then for Édgar Valdez Villarreal's criminal organization known as Los Negros. In 2008, the United Sta ...

, while the other is led by the current cartel leader

Héctor Beltrán Leyva Héctor Manuel Beltrán Leyva (15 February 1962 – 18 November 2018) was a Mexican drug lord and leader of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, a drug-trafficking organization. He was the brother of Arturo Beltrán Leyva (deceased), former leader of ...

and his 'enforcer' lieutenant, Sergio Villarreal Barragán.

Kingpin Act sanction

On 1 June 2010, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

sanctioned Villarreal Barragán under the

Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act The Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, better known as the Kingpin Act, is landmark federal legislation in the United States intended to address international narcotics trafficking by imposing United States sanctions on foreign persons a ...

(sometimes referred to simply as the "Kingpin Act"), for his involvement in drug trafficking along with four other international criminals. The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with him, and virtually froze all his assets in the U.S.

Bounty and arrest

On September 12, 2010 he was arrested in a raid by Mexican Marines in the central state of

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

. Villarreal has been charged with multiple murders and other crimes. The Mexican government had been offering a $30 million pesos (US$1.7 million) bounty for information leading to Villarreal's capture. Villarreal Barragán was

extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

to the United States on 23 May 2012, and may possibly serve as a "protected witness" for the

DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...

Personal life

Villarreal Barragán is married to Gabriela Benavides Tamez and has a brother named Adolfo Villarreal Barragán.

References

External links

Mexico holds drug suspect Sergio 'El Grande' Villarreal
—

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villarreal Barragan, Sergio 1969 births Beltrán-Leyva Cartel traffickers Mexican people imprisoned abroad Living people People extradited from Mexico to the United States People from Torreón People sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government